Starting Over

I entered into the craft blogging scene back in 2008 as a means to meet new people and to find new avenues of inspiration. Over the next year and a half, I participating in many crafting challenges focusing on paper crafting and mixed media techniques. I really enjoyed the time spent on those challenges and I decided to try out a juried ATC group. I submitted my artwork for my first swap and received a polite email from one of the group's moderators heavily critizing my work, from my technique to my interpretation of the theme. I was stunned! There was not one positive piece of feedback in the email and the quiet anger from the moderator about the quality of my work was disturbing. How dare I submit inferior art! I quietly quit the group and stopped crafting. I spent the next two years focused on my family and my job and put the crafting side of me on hold.

This weekend, I decided to resurrect my blog and start crafting again. I found blogs that I used to frequent regularly and caught up on what bloggers were doing. I cleaned out my old blog posts, set up a new blog format, and started creating.

I will continue to look at various blog challenges for inspiration, and will post my work hoping to inspire others. I will not be concerned about meeting the expectations of others as I will be creating solely for my own enjoyment. Sure, I will link my work to the challenge blog, but the need for validation is no longer hanging over me.

I feel free to do what I want to and to express my creativity as I see fit. Who knows where it will lead me....

Welcome to my journey.

Liz